Artificer's Dragon MTG Card
2022-11-18 - Number 376
2022-11-18 - Number 291
2002-06-24 - Number 105814
| Card sets | Released in 3 setsSee all |
| Mana cost | |
| Converted mana cost | 6 |
| Rarity | Rare |
| Type | Artifact Creature — Dragon |
| Abilities | Flying,Unearth |
| Power | 4 |
| Toughness | 4 |
Key Takeaways
- Artificer’s Dragon grants card advantage by letting you play the top library card directly.
- Boosts resource acceleration through artifact synergy for more threats and faster plays.
- Allows instant speed artifact utilization, crucial for disrupting opponent strategies.
Text of card
Flying : Artifact creatures you control get +1/+0 until end of turn. Unearth (: Return this card from your graveyard to the battlefield. It gains haste. Exile it at the beginning of the next end step or if it would leave the battlefield. Unearth only as a sorcery.)
Card Pros
Card Advantage: Artificer’s Dragon provides the ability to reveal the top card of your library and play it, increasing accessibility to more options and potentially landing powerful spells or creatures that can shift the game dynamic.
Resource Acceleration: The synergy with artifact spells this dragon possesses can ramp up your resource production, particularly if your deck is built around artifacts. This trait ensures a steady flow of resources that can be used to deploy more threats or answers rapidly.
Instant Speed: Artificer’s Dragon allows you to exploit your artifacts at instant speed, giving you the flexibility to respond to opponents’ actions during their turn. This tactical maneuver can create unexpected plays and disrupt the opponent’s strategies.
Card Cons
Discard Requirement: Playing the Artificer’s Dragon often necessitates discarding another card, which could deplete your hand too quickly, leaving you vulnerable to your opponent’s strategy.
Specific Mana Cost: The dragon demands a meticulous mana arrangement, typically needing a blend of energies that might not always be convenient in your deck’s mana base, potentially leading to play delays.
Comparatively High Mana Cost: With its mana cost on the higher side, the dragon competes with other impactful creatures and spells. Players might find it challenging to justify its inclusion over lower-cost alternatives offering similar benefits or immediate impact.
Reasons to Include in Your Collection
Versatility: Artificer’s Dragon offers a dynamic presence on the battlefield, fitting seamlessly into artifact-themed decks and others that capitalize on power boosts from noncreature spells.
Combo Potential: With its ability to grow for each artifact or instant and sorcery card in your graveyard, it serves as an engine for synergizing with graveyard-utilizing strategies or artifact-centric combos.
Meta-Relevance: In an environment that favors artifacts and spell-slinging, Artificer’s Dragon becomes a potent threat that can quickly spiral out of control, matching the pace of current competitive formats.
How to beat
The Artificer’s Dragon breathes fire in the lands of MTG, bringing a blazing presence to any battlefield. A synergy-centric card, this powerful creature shines brightest in decks that capitalize on artifacts. To effectively counter it, first understand that Artificer’s Dragon gets stronger as artifacts enter the battlefield under your control. Cutting the supply line by managing or even destroying artifacts is thus key to keeping its power in check.
Combat it with strategic artifact removal – cards like Abrade or Shatter are accessible ways to hinder your opponent’s board development. Another tactic involves utilizing control elements to keep the dragon from taking flight; counterspells such as Negate or creatures with Flash that can surprise block during combat are excellent choices to stifle the Artificer’s Dragon before it becomes a threat. Tailoring your deck with these considerations could tip the scales in your favor, ensuring that this formidable creature doesn’t burn you out of the game.
When playing against a deck featuring the Artificer’s Dragon, remember to have your removal ready and keep their board clear of artifacts where possible. Doing so ensures the dragon’s potential remains caged, and your chances of victory soar.
Cards like Artificer's Dragon
Artificer’s Dragon introduces a unique dynamic to the roster of creature cards in Magic: The Gathering. It shares some common ground with other flying dragons like the Furnace Whelp, especially in terms of aerial superiority. Both have the ability to fly and power up, but the Artificer’s Dragon leverages your artifact count for a bolster in strength instead of pumping mana directly into it, creating a synergy with decks focused on artifacts.
Comparable also is the Pia Nalaar’s dragon creation, the Scuttling Doom Engine, which is not a dragon by type but by spirit and design. It underscores the artifact theme but takes a different approach. While Artificer’s Dragon’s might is intertwined with the number of artifacts you control, the Doom Engine packs a punch when it’s destroyed, dealing significant damage to the opponent. This exemplifies the varying strategies within the artifact-centric deck styles.
Overall, Artificer’s Dragon might attract MTG players who are looking for a creature that not only flies but grows stronger as they play more artifacts. Its synchronized growth alongside your artifacts makes it a force to be reckoned within the right deck constellations.
Cards similar to Artificer's Dragon by color, type and mana cost
Where to buy
If you're looking to purchase Artificer's Dragon MTG card by a specific set like Magic Online Promos and The Brothers' War, there are several reliable options to consider. One of the primary sources is your local game store, where you can often find booster packs, individual cards, and preconstructed decks from current and some past sets. They often offer the added benefit of a community where you can trade with other players.
For a broader inventory, particularly of older sets, online marketplaces like TCGPlayer, Card Kingdom and Card Market offer extensive selections and allow you to search for cards from specific sets. Larger e-commerce platforms like eBay and Amazon also have listings from various sellers, which can be a good place to look for sealed product and rare finds.
Additionally, Magic’s official site often has a store locator and retailer lists for finding Wizards of the Coast licensed products. Remember to check for authenticity and the condition of the cards when purchasing, especially from individual sellers on larger marketplaces.
Below is a list of some store websites where you can buy the Artificer's Dragon and other MTG cards:
- eBay
- TCG Player
- Card Kingdom
- Card Market
- Star City Games
- CoolStuffInc
- MTG Mint Card
- Hareruya
- Troll and Toad
- ABU Games
- Card Hoarder Magic Online
- MTGO Traders Magic Online
See MTG Products
Printings
The Artificer's Dragon Magic the Gathering card was released in 2 different sets between 2022-11-18 and 2022-11-18. Illustrated by Leon Tukker.
| # | Released | Name | Code | Symbol | Number | Frame | Layout | Border | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Magic Online Promos | PRM | 105814 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Leon Tukker | ||
| 2 | 2022-11-18 | The Brothers' War | BRO | 376 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Leon Tukker | |
| 3 | 2022-11-18 | The Brothers' War | BRO | 291 | 2015 | Normal | Black | Leon Tukker |
Legalities
Magic the Gathering formats where Artificer's Dragon has restrictions
| Format | Legality |
|---|---|
| Standard | Legal |
| Historicbrawl | Legal |
| Historic | Legal |
| Legacy | Legal |
| Oathbreaker | Legal |
| Gladiator | Legal |
| Alchemy | Legal |
| Pioneer | Legal |
| Commander | Legal |
| Modern | Legal |
| Future | Legal |
| Vintage | Legal |
| Duel | Legal |
| Explorer | Legal |
| Brawl | Legal |
| Timeless | Legal |
Rules and information
The reference guide for Magic: The Gathering Artificer's Dragon card rulings provides official rulings, any errata issued, as well as a record of all the functional modifications that have occurred.
| Date | Text |
|---|---|
| 2022-10-14 | Activating a card's unearth ability isn't the same as casting that card. The unearth ability is put on the stack, but the card is not. Spells and abilities that interact with activated abilities (such as Defabricate's second mode) will interact with unearth, but spells and abilities that interact with spells (such as Scatter Ray) will not. |
| 2022-10-14 | At the beginning of the next end step, a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth is exiled. This is a delayed triggered ability, and it can be countered by effects such as Defabricate that counter triggered abilities. If the ability is countered, the permanent will stay on the battlefield and the delayed triggered ability won't trigger again. However, the replacement effect will still exile the permanent if it eventually leaves the battlefield. |
| 2022-10-14 | If a permanent returned to the battlefield with unearth would leave the battlefield for any reason, it's exiled instead—unless the spell or ability that's causing the permanent to leave the battlefield is actually trying to exile it! In that case, it succeeds at exiling it. If that spell or ability later returns the card to the battlefield (as Static Net might, for example), the permanent card will return to the battlefield as a new object with no relation to its previous existence. The unearth effects will no longer apply to it. |
| 2022-10-14 | If you activate a card's unearth ability but that card is removed from your graveyard before the ability resolves, that unearth ability will do nothing as it resolves. |
| 2022-10-14 | The first activated ability affects only artifact creatures you control at the time it resolves. Any artifact creatures that come under your control later in the turn won't be affected. |
| 2022-10-14 | Unearth grants haste to the permanent that's returned to the battlefield (even if it's not a creature card). However, neither of the "exile" abilities is granted to that permanent. If that permanent loses all its abilities, it will still be exiled at the beginning of the next end step, and if it would leave the battlefield, it is still exiled instead. |